Tampa Man Sentenced in Credit Card Fraud Scheme

He was part of a gang that bought stolen credit and debit card account numbers online and used the numbers to create counterfeit credit cards.

TAMPA – U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. on Wednesday (April 25) sentenced the seventh member of the “Manche Boy Mafia” gang to federal prison for his part in a credit card fraud scheme.

Johnnie Earl Ross, 24, of Tampa, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft. He pleaded guilty Feb. 8, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to court documents and statements made in open court, from at least January 2015 through November 2016, Ross and others affiliated with the “Manche Boy Mafia” or “MBM” organization conspired to commit credit card fraud and identity theft in the Tampa Bay area.

The conspirators bought stolen credit and debit card account numbers online from various websites, some of which used bitcoins as their currency. They then purchased or stole reloadable gift cards and used machines to emboss the stolen account numbers and their own names onto the front of these altered gift cards, thereby producing counterfeit credit cards. The conspirators then used these counterfeit cards at various retailers around the Tampa Bay area to purchase gift cards and electronics, which they either kept or sold for cash.

Investigators determined that they had engaged in hundreds of successful transactions with counterfeit credit cards and had possessed and used thousands of stolen account numbers from people across the U.S. In total, Ross was held responsible for more than $540,000 in intended or attempted purchases with counterfeit credit cards and stolen account information.